How she loathed these damned mortals.
Immortals weren’t much better in her book, but at least they chose comfortable locations in which to live. Mortals simply built their temples to human fallacy wherever there was space, worlds of concrete and steel, an attempt to obtain godhood.
She almost laughed at that. Godhood wasn’t nearly all it was cracked up to be. It was the fact that the mortals were indeed immortal that created all of the problems. Unlike the many mythical monsters forged from twisted human minds, there was no special circumstance in which these immortals died. They would endure for all of time, and this had led to some of the most creative punishments the world across. While she didn’t endorse the barbaric practices her family engaged in, she could do nothing for them. Despite her far superior power, she and her sisters had little sway with the Olympians.
Queasiness settled in her gut. It felt wrong to be hunting him. Yet the Olympians had demanded justice, and she was forced to oblige despite her misgivings. She would find him, she always found her targets, but she would take him to be tried by the court of Themis. Truthfully, Themis belonged to the small handful of gods she trusted. But she was still concerned. There was no doubt that the Olympians wanted him imprisoned with no questions asked, and so she was bothered with the idea that they might try something.
Her fingers tightened around the blackened chain she held close, wrapped up around one arm. If they did, they would receive a taste of her reputation for vengeance.
Taking a deep breath – a mistake she realized as soon as the piss-reek of the alley filled her nostrils – she stood and waited. There was a steady pedestrian traffic seen from the mouth of the alley, many humans pushing and shoving one another out of the way, too impatient for their lives. But then, a bob and flash, and she knew it was him.
She darted out of the alley, immediately flowing into the stream of walkers. Though she could not see him, she could sense him. Her chain had tightened around her biceps, warming, something that occurred whenever she set eyes on the one she hunted. The clawed hand cover on her right hand was getting itchy, violence rippling under her skin. The power was flowing, and though she attempted to ignore it, stifle it, it had been so long since she had hunted…
He turned a corner, heading to a less populated area of the city, and she followed at a discreet distance. To her surprise, he ducked into a hole in the wall bar. She tentatively waited, then went in.
It was a sad little hovel, and the few patrons there at 6:00 pm were already sloppy drunk, staring into their glasses with dull eyes. It brought up emotions she never felt with her family; the depression of it all, the way she felt weary of it, how she felt bad for them and desired to help them. Then her eyes caught him. He was staring at her.
“Are you here for me?” He asked quietly from his place at the bar near the door, hand clutched around a foggy mug.
“You had to know it was coming,” she said evenly.
“I suppose it was foolish of me to hope otherwise.”
“Why did you do this?”
“What? Free him?”
She hissed in impatience, quickly striding to him, and pulled up short when she saw him cringe away from her.
“Yes. Why did you free him? You had to know the action would force me into this… I don’t want to do this…” She hated the weakness in her voice, the obvious tint of pain.
He noticed it too, straightening slightly to peer at her face, a concerned expression overtaking his features.
“Why do you care?” He asked.
“Do you really have to ask?”
“No, no. You’re right. You’ve always been rather humane when it comes to your jobs. Your existence, even. An oddity among the family.”
“Why did you free him?”
“That again? Dammit, Tisiphone, why do you think?!” His voice had raised, and as it did, drunken heads perked up, slowed brain functions reacting sluggishly to the stimulus. He quickly cast his tone lower, trying to quiet himself. “After so many centuries, I couldn’t stand it anymore. No other in this family has been hurt the way he has.”
“Well…”
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I know you’ve… But you were freed. That’s… I needed the screaming to end.” He finished, a defeated man slumping down on a bar stool, mug in hand.
“Do you think I failed to hear it?” She asked, sliding onto the stool next to him. He looked at her in surprise.
“What?”
“My role is justice. Justice in the form of vengeance. Do you not think his screams reach me? I have to hold back every time I visit them on Olympus; my power wants to enact its role on them. I’d think the reason why is obvious.”
“Why haven’t you done anything then?”
“What do you think, Thanatos? I was bound once before… I don’t know that I could make it out with sanity intact were I to go another round. Besides that, my sisters… I’m not stupid, they’ve been effectively hostages for centuries, not that either realizes it.”
“You mean…?”
“Oh yes. They’ve been staying on Olympus for a long time. They are even taking their side now, calling me a vigilante. Trying to force me into jobs that make no reasonable sense. I didn’t want this, certainly. Is it still a filial murder if what you’re doing is a grace? Apparently, the Olympians think so.”
A deep sigh left Thanatos, and he slowly let go of the mug.
“I’ll go with you. If you have to kill me, I–,”
“Idiot!” Tisiphone snarled, shoving off of her stool and kicking away from him. “What kind of person do you think I am? Truly? You should know that of all the people in the world, mortal and immortal, I could never hurt you.” She turned her back to him, shoulders dropping and arms hanging limply by her sides.
“What did you intend, then?” He asked quietly, slipping off of his own stool.
“I was going to take you to the court of Themis. I trust her. Any verdict will be irrefutable even in the face of the Olympians anger. I don’t think you would be found guilty.”
There was a pregnant pause, and she could almost hear the mental gears whirring in his head.
“Okay. Let’s go.” He said, the suddenness of his hand on her waist startling her. But it was merely to guide her outside, back into the gray dim of the day. “What do I need to do?”
“Take my hand,” she said softly. He complied, and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. There was a sudden flash of darkness, and she heard Thanatos groan. She almost laughed, he could be such a wimp sometimes.
When she opened her eyes, they stood in the marble foyer of Themis’ court. They stood for a moment before she realized their hands were still clasped, and quickly stepped back and away. His eyes caught hers, a curious glint in them, and she already felt dread welling up. If he asked her, she could only be honest, there was no way she could lie to him, but he had never realized it. Why would he realize it now, of all the ridiculous times?
“Tisiphone… Why is it, you said you could never hurt me?” Bastard.
“You know why.”
“No. I’m not sure I do. I’m not sure I understand at all.”
“Must we have this talk now? Themis is waiting!”
“Well, if I’m going to be sentenced in a non-positive light, then yes. Yes I would like to have this talk now.”
“Why did you have to notice now?”
“Notice what?”
“That I love you, you dolt!” Her voice echoed loudly across the acoustic surfaces of the foyer. She cringed, taking steps back and away from him. How she hated herself in that moment.
“I… I don’t… What?”
“I am well aware you don’t view me in such a light, we can pretend this conversation didn’t happen. May we proceed now?”
“Tisi…” The use of his nickname for her made her stomach twist into knots. Damn him. “Do you–, I mean… Are you sure? You never gave an indication before, are you sure this isn’t some weird guilt thing?” The look she gave him would have left a weaker man huddled in a ball on the floor.
“How could you ask me that? You should be well aware that my affection towards the family is limited, and even those I interact with never touch me, and there’s a clear reason for that. Just as it seems rather obvious why I would let you touch my hand for travel, let alone the past when you’ve hugged me.”
“I didn’t… It didn’t seem possible, after…everything.”
“Everything? What, you mean that time Zeus, Ares, and Poseidon took turns screwing me while Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Hera took turns torturing the shit out of me?” A harsh laugh left her. “It isn’t possible for me to hold any affection towards but two true Olympians. You were never one of them though, were you? Your power is the same as mine.”
“The greater power, Titan power…Yes. It is.” He closed his eyes, his head hanging down. He scrubbed his hands angrily up and down his face, then straightened himself up and looked at her. “Tisiphone, if this doesn’t go well, then I think I best do this now, so I won’t regret inaction later.” Before she could respond, he had taken her face in his hands and kissed her.
It wasn’t a particularly long kiss, but it certainly was a special one, the culmination of centuries of secret feelings on both their parts, though he wouldn’t admit that to her anytime soon. The god of death pining over a woman? It was mortifying to think of how she relentlessly she’d tease him with that.
Their lips drifted away, and she stared at him, seemingly lost for words. A moment passed, and then the doors to the main court opened, and they broke apart with incredible speed. Tisiphone’s cheeks flamed red as Themis peeked at them curiously.
“Aren’t you going to come in?”
“Of course,” Tisiphone smiled, gesturing Thanatos forward. Themis turned, returning inside, with Thanatos and Tisiphone close on her heels.
Things had certainly gotten more complicated…
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